A bite of the Big Apple

PRACTICE RIGHTS: Society urges New York Bar to ease admission

The Law Society has launched a concerted effort to make it easier for solicitors to requalify in New York.

All English and Welsh solicitors working in New York, or who have expressed an interest in working there, have been sent a consultation paper seeking views on the problem.

Under current arrangements, only solicitors holding a full law degree are able to move directly to taking the New York State Bar exam.

Those who followed the common professional route are obliged to take a university course which often takes one year of full-time study and costs around $27,000 (19,300).

Responses to the Law Society's paper will be put to the New York Court of Appeals, which regulates admission to the Bar.

According to the paper, New York is the only jurisdiction which looks behind the solicitor qualification.

With continued globalisation and law firm mergers, New York firms will need lawyers with dual capacity 'as a result of the dominance of English and US legal systems' worldwide, the paper said.

A half-way house suggested by the Law Society would see UK lawyers granted a temporary admission to the New York Bar, perhaps for three years, in which they could spread out training if they wish to remain longer.

Sue Allen